Jealous? Me? Never!
by chips2
Summary: Luke is working for Grimaldi shipping and has quickly become one of the company's best employees. Everyone is happy, aren't they?


Jealous. Moi?

"Hey." I said into the phone which was perched between my ear and shoulder. "What time are you getting home?" I had been creating havoc in the kitchen for the last hour while humming to some music. I was planning to surprise Luke with a romantic dinner.

"That's why I'm calling." My boyfriend's voice was apologetic. "Chris and I still have some work to do. I shouldn't be more than two hours though."

"But I thought we'd have a nice night in, just the two of us?" I tried not to come off too needy and failed.

"Sorry, bubby. If I had known sooner I could have rescheduled. I will make it up to you, I promise."

I should have been happy for my boyfriend. I was. I tried to convince myself. After all, working for Damian had given Luke purpose over the last month. His father was impressed by how much natural flare his son had for business.

"Just like your old man, hey Luciano!" Damian had said slapping him on the back. Luke had helped secure a major deal with effortless aplomb.

Okay, I was happy for Luke but here was the whole truth. I had become accustomed to my boyfriend's ready presence. I missed the impromptu visits to Java, the daily lunch bag which inevitably came with a sweet but cheeky message of love. I missed the spontaneity of surprises I could give to Luke knowing that he was likely to be available.

Now I had to share him with his job. I looked at my reflection in the window of the kitchen and noticed that I was pouting. Full on "Paris Hilton" pouting. No one was home to see me so I continued to sulk.

As I munched on my amateurish attempt at jambalaya (burnt) I decided to grow up. I should be supportive of Luke like he had been with me. It just meant that the time we _did_ spend together had to be cherished.

I held that thought when he was 30 minutes late...and when he was an hour late.

Two hours late! I was getting worried and the pout was back.

I was just about to call him when he tumbled through the door.

"Oh honey. Sorry." He gave me a quick kiss. Was that flavor on his lips what I thought it was?

Luke continued. "It all took longer than anticipated. Chris and I decided to celebrate after we finalized another company acquisition." He walked past me and put his work bag on our bed, before stripping out of his work clothes.

"Luke, were you at Metro?"

Luke stilled for a moment.

"Um hum. How did you know?"

"Metro's _Bloody Shame_. It's your favorite virgin cocktail. I can taste it on your lips." I am grown up. I am not going to pout. I am grown up. I am not going to pout.

And who was this Chris? Luke had been mentioning his name with increasing regularity.

"That's why I'm late. After we were done, Chris suggested a few drinks to celebrate. I didn't think it would take this long but we managed to work out a strategy for some other work we are doing."

It was hard to listen to Luke's words when he was only wearing boxer briefs. I almost forgot why I was pouting.

"You could have called?"

"I know. Will you ever forgive me?" Was he trying to distract me with seduction? Luke approached me and put his hands on my shoulders, gently caressing down to my hands.

"I could put my pajamas on or..." Luke placed his thumbs into the tops of his under pants just slightly lowering them.

I pushed him onto the bed.

"How about we celebrate your acquisition! Oh and by the way you won't need these." I gently caressed his underwear. God! He made me so easy...

A week later...

There was a term "football widow" that defined people whose partner's were avid sports fans. During the sport's season they had to accept that less attention would be paid to them than the game. Was there a society for "Job widow(er)s"? Well, I was ready to join. The difference was this was not a seasonal affliction.

I wasn't pouting. I was just saying. My relationship was currently a series of apologies over the phone.

I decided to do something about it.

"How about grabbing lunch together?" I suggested one morning when we were in our bedroom. I was still in bed. What? I was a student and I didn't have class until ten.

"That's great. I'll meet you at Al's at 12.30." Luke looked cute in a suit. I tried to get him back into bed. Unsuccessfully.

"Nice try, stud. I can't be late." He gave me a quick kiss on my forehead and left.

_Lunch…_

I was not happy. Perhaps I hadn't been clear. When I said "How about we grab lunch together" I should have added "ALONE" for clarification. Because in my mind's eye, I had envisioned Luke and I cozily eating a shared plate of fries and sipping each other's milkshakes while we caught up and stared into each other's eyes.

Instead, lunch went something like this.

"Noah." Kiss. "Let me introduce you to Chris." Luke said.

"Noah." Luke's colleague said with a warm smile, shaking my hand.

"Chris."I replied with an expression that I hoped didn't reveal the death glare clamoring to come out.

"Chris is the work friend I have been telling you about. He makes sure I look good at work in front of Damian."

"Are you kidding? You're the one who is nicknamed 'M & A kid'! We just make a good team." Chris and Luke laughed loudly.

Was that supposed to be a joke? Well it wasn't funny to me. Why was Luke laughing at that? I'm not being jealous. I'm being honest.

"Sorry. M&A?" I asked.

"Mergers and Acquisitions, honey." Luke said.

That was pretty much where my contribution to the conversation ended for the rest of the meal while the two of them talked shop.

I'm not pouting. It's just that I would have been happier had Chris been uglier.

_A few days later…_

"Noah, what brings you here?" Damian intercepted me on the way to Luke's office.

"I thought I'd bring Luke some lunch." I held up the picnic basket that was full of goodies and perhaps a naughty but nice message buried within.

"He has been working very hard this morning. I'm sure he would welcome the break." Damian said.

He didn't.

"Noah. That is so sweet of you but I can't right now." Luke looked stressed.

_Oh yes. Hi Chris. Fancy seeing you here near my Luke, keeping him away from me!_ Of course I didn't say any of this out loud. After all I was playing the supportive boyfriend. Yes, you heard me correctly. I was just acting. I was once truly encouraging of Luke but I had reached breaking point. When we barely got an hour a day to enjoy each other's company, I jumped that line from supportive boyfriend-land into jealous boyfriend-ville.

"I understand." I said. Of course the way I said it conveyed 'you don't care about us any more, well fine, hang out with your cute friend, see if I care, you know where to find me, but give it a few hours so I can calm down and wipe my tears.'

"So how did he like his surprise?" Damian asked as I marched out of Luke's office.

"Your son is too busy for surprises. In fact it looks like he is too busy for me now-a-days." Was that a little drama queen-ish? Perhaps so. I wasn't going to apologize for it.

"Have you talked to Luke about this?" Damian was a wise man but he didn't understand.

"Not exactly. The thing is he was patient with me when I was doing my project. Anyway, he should _want_ to spend time with me. I shouldn't have to beg for it." I reasoned.

Damian was laughing and taking a chunk out of my feelings in doing so.

"What's funny?"

"Ah Noah! I forgot how young love could make a mountain out of a molehill."

_Hey!_ I thought. Luke's bio dad was making me reconsider whether I really liked him.

"Don't look at me like that, Noah. What I mean is that you guys love one another. You both want to spend more time together. However, whenever there is a change affecting your lives, in this case its Luke's job, you have to find a way to reaffirm that love and find the time. That can only be done by verbal communication between the two of you unless you have discovered telepathy. Trust me; if you make plans alone prepare to sleep alone."

Maybe he had a point. I had been grumbling, pouting, pacing, planning and sulking all on my own. I should have just told Luke. Maybe we would come to a solution together.

_Later that day…_

Luke called.

"Hi bubby."

"Hi, honey."

"Look, I am sorry about earlier. There was a mini crisis going on at the time. Chris and I were trying to extinguish the fire. If I had known you were coming maybe I could have worked around it." Every time Luke said Chris's name, I swear I lost another year off my life expectancy. The way he was going, I would be lucky to see my thirtieth birthday.

"That's okay." I said. There was a pregnant pause in the conversation.

"We need to talk." We both said this at the same time. I could hear his smile. It reflected my own.

"What is my gorgeous boyfriend doing tonight at 6.30?" Luke asked.

"Going on a date with my boyfriend?" I guessed.

"Correct. Just you and me. The Lakeview. Dress to impress. Is that alright?" Luke was good at this. Had he spoken to Damian too?

"It's perfect."

We were sat in a corner table at the Lakeview, ideal for a little intimacy. We had finished our meal. Now we were just winding down, contemplating whether to get coffee, dessert or the bill.

"I've missed you these last few weeks." Luke said. He was playing with my hand lazily across the table, tracing patterns over its surface before interlinking them.

"Yeah?" I was surprised by that. He had seemed so consumed in his work. "I've missed you too. I have been like a petulant child missing his mother as she goes back to work after maternity leave." I confessed.

"No way! I would have never known, Noah. You seemed so chilled out about everything and all the time I was spending away. I sometimes found it hard to concentrate at work especially those days where I got home after you had fallen asleep and then left too early to see you wake. I have missed making you lunch and writing those little messages. But you didn't seem to notice the difference. So I adopted some childish tactics and tried to make you jealous. I dropped Chris's name into conversation so much I thought you'd start getting worried something was going on. When you didn't, I thought introducing him to you would make you go all "Jealous boyfriend" but you still stayed cool. It kind of made me feel like you could take me or leave me."

Wow! Luke was one heck of a good actor. I did not know that that had been going on in his head at all.

"Luke. I was 100% 'jealous boyfriend' dressed in 'supportive boyfriend' skin. I was this close to thumping the guy in your office today! So the whole thing-"

"-was a stupid infantile ploy to get you to show me that you missed me more." Luke finished. "I work with him as much as with any other person in my division. The celebration in Metro involved a few staff members including Damian. I lied by omission. Chris was kind enough to play along."

I recalled the exaggerated laughter at Chris's joke and it made sense. I looked at my boyfriend in wonderment.

"God Luke, I love you! You never cease to amaze me. Meanwhile I was wallowing in self pity that you didn't want to hang out with me." I started laughing uncontrollably as I thought of how crazy all that Chris talk had made me. That had been the intent.

"It's not funny!" Luke said but there was a hint of a smile starting at the corner of his lips.

"But it is Luke. It is." I could barely get the words out through the giggles. "Damian was right. If we had only had this conversation earlier we could have saved ourselves all this drama."

"Damian spoke to you too?" My beautiful blond man asked. I stopped laughing.

"Yes. He said 'if you make plans alone prepare-" I started.

"- to sleep alone.'" We finished together. _Clever man. I decided I liked Damian again._

"Let's get the bill and go home." Luke's eye's made no secret of what he had in store.

Being Luke's boyfriend was the best job in the world!

"Hi sleepy head." Luke was stroking my hair. He was already suited and booted.

"Morning." I was still full of sleep but I told Luke to wake me up in the mornings so that I could at least say bye to him. "I'll make you breakfast." I made a move to get up but was pushed back down by a firm hand.

"No it's okay. I'll grab a coffee at work." Luke lay back down next to me.

"You look so sexy with your bedroom eyes and your crazy hair." He whispered before kissing me. Why didn't we settle on this morning thing earlier? I pulled him in deepening the kiss.

We made out for what felt like a beautiful eternity. We both forgot that this was a farewell embrace and not foreplay until the reminder alarm went off.

"I hate your job." I grumbled as Luke pulled away straightening himself out.

"No you don't. You just hate being away from me." He was right.

"Your lunch is in the fridge." He threw me an air kiss and was gone.

When I heard the door shut behind him, I leapt out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

Eagerly, I extracted the piece of paper from the bottom of my lunch.

**Meet me at the park at 12.30. Near the tree that you think looks like Johnny Depp in Edward Scissor Hands. And bring the food. It should take 1hr 30 min. I'd love to see you in the dark shirt you wore when you tried that thing on me at my parent's house when they were away. I may let you try it again tonight. Does that work? xxx Luke**

Oh yes! That definitely works.

Thank you, Damian. Luke and I are definitely reaffirming our love and finding the time!


End file.
